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In spite of the softening of some real
estate markets caused by reckless overbuilding, developers are proving
self-storage remains a viable investment. Although new construction is still the
most common approach, the ever-evolving storage product has found yet another
avenue: the infill conversion. Similarly, remodeling projects transform older
storage sites into upscale, state-of-the-art facilities with new amenities and
profit-making options.

Having been tapped by developers in the past, this segment of
the market is no great secret. However, the opportunity may be broader than
originally anticipated. A combination of creative thinking and high-level
expertise has proven to be successful in rendering a “useless” building into
a cash-flow producing storage facility. Take a look at the following case
studies that prove the point.

South Florida

This 38,000-square-foot, dock-high building in Fort
Lauderdale, Fla., had approximately 15 feet clear to the roof line, hardly
leaving room for the second floor needed to increase square footage. Among the
solutions discussed was the possibility of raising the roof. In some cases, this
is not cost prohibitive and can be a good solution. In this instance, however, a
more thorough examination of the building produced a better answer.

Destructive analysis revealed the original construction to be
at ground level, with the columns sitting on column pads. The interior dock-high
floors were actually a retrofit application. This meant removing the interior floor would create more
available head height, which would allow for the pouring of a new slab and
insertion of a second floor. The additional 40,000 square feet make the project
work and the pro forma sing.

Puerto Rico

My partner, John Wilson of Construction Processes
International Inc., requested my attention on this project in Puerto Rico. An
industrial site with loading docks was being vacated by rental tenants, and its
owners were committed to converting the building to self-storage. As the former tenant was a large distributor, the loading
docks were a necessary accoutrement to the building. However, the new intended
use made the dock configuration obsolete. My first thought was to eliminate the
dock and dock-high floor, which would lower the first-floor elevation. This
proved to be impossible because, unlike the Fort Lauderdale project, the dock
and building floor were totally integrated. If it were even possible to separate the two, it would be
entirely too costly a procedure.

So, the dock had to stay. Given its height from the ground
elevation, loading through the dock doors was impractical in a self-storage
application. The trick was to determine a use for it and integrate it into
the design. We met the challenge by doubling the dock’s width, adding a couple
of drive ramps, and constructing a building between them. The new structure
would have unit access from the ramp and ground levels. Another of the buildings
on site had a clear height of 35 feet, so we immediately added two upper floors,
which significantly increased the square footage.

Because the site was very large and we needed to provide as
much drive-up storage as possible, we designed additional buildings to be
integrated into the overall layout. This project is still under way, but the
images shown here represent the complexity of the project and the creative
solution that took it from 41,700 to 95,700 square feet of profit-producing
storage product.

At first blush, an industrial building with a loading dock may
seem an easy conversion to self-storage because of the frequent use of trucks at
these facilities by tenants. But the reality is dock-height tractor trailers are
seldom used. A more common visitor to a storage facility would be a large
wheel-base moving truck, which has a much lower floor. If the dock does not have
a leveler, it may be an obstacle to the viability of the conversion. Though some
dock configurations may be used “as is,” most will require some type of
modification.

Being conscious of your market, determining the
likelihood of a dock’s use, and assessing the value of keeping vs. the costs of
removing it will help extract as many rentable square feet as possible from a
site. A little creative thinking augmented with expert advice and innovative
design can produce a handsome return on your investment in this niche of the
self-storage market.

Nicholas Jodhan has been involved in the development of self-storage for the
past seven years, designing and developing self-storage facilities in several
major cities. He continues to develop creative ways of addressing the new
parameters of the modern self-storage industry. He is the owner of Gemini Plus
LLC, a full-service consulting company. Mr. Jodhan can be reached at 941.366.9730; e-mail
ngj1@earthlink.net.